This invention relates to a unitary loose-leaf binder and paper-punch.
A problem commonly encountered by users of loose-leaf binders is the absence of any convenient means for punching the paper to be held in the binder. Separate paper-punches are sold but these are often expensive and cumbersome and in any case, are often not conveniently available to many users of loose-leaf binders, such as school and university students. Although prepunched paper is sold and widely used, users of loose-leaf binders are often given paper which the users wish to retain in the binder but which is not pre-punched. Such users often jab holes in the paper by forcing it over the arms of the binder, but paper thus inserted in a binder looks messy, does not move freely on the binder rings and is often askew. It is therefore desirable to provide a loose-leaf binder with an integral paper-punch, so that the punch will always be available when paper is to be inserted into the binder.
Attempts have been made to provide such devices. U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,774, issued Oct. 31, 1967 to J. W. Ryan describes a mechanism in which paper can be punched when the binder rings are closed. One drawback with this design is that the punch die members are positioned within the area bounded by the binder rings, thus cluttering up the binder rings and giving the open binder an unattractive appearance. Binders are frequently opened and closed simply to add pre-punched paper, and a user does not want to see a prominent punch mechanism at these times, when it is not needed.
Another combined loose-leaf binder and paper-punch is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,139,159, issued on Dec. 6, 1938 to C. B. Hammen. In this case the punch mechanism is concealed, but the spine of the ring binder mechanism and all the paper held on the rings must be swung to one side to operate the punch.